Yanks Win on Pinch-Hit

By MICHAEL MARTINEZ

Published: September 3, 1987

Jerry Royster was still just a member of the supporting cast when all the histrionics were taking place last night. He sat passively on the bench for nine innings as pitchers withstood inspections, gloves were checked and baseballs were removed for post-game examination.

And then Royster stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 10th, sent a pinch-hit single through the right side of the infield and won a game that took one improbable turn after another.

Royster's hit drove in Don Mattingly from third base and gave the Yankees a 3-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics at the Stadium. It kept them hopeful in the American League East race, five games behind Detroit and four behind Toronto with 29 to play.

The A's, in a heated division race of the their own in the West, fell one-and-a-half games behind Minnesota.

Not even Reggie Jackson could have offered more drama than this. Single Moment of Glory

As it was, Jackson spent the entire series on the Oakland bench. His single moment of glory came before the start of last night's game when he presented the lineup card to the umpires and was given a warm but modest ovation from a crowd of 33,619.

Most of them, despite an annoying drizzle late in the game, remained until the finish. What they saw was a matchup of two contenders that did not lack for entertainment.

In the end, the contest was decided with the help of two unlikely plays. Mattingly, who had four singles, was struck out by Rick Honeycutt but reached base when the A's catcher, Mickey Tettleton, lost the ball off his glove and was charged with a passed ball. Then Don Pasqua put down a sacrifice bunt, but Tettleton's throw hit him on the back for an error, allowing Mattingly to take third.

Royster, acquired only last Wednesday in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, came up for Mike Pagliarulo and stroked a 3-and-2 pitch into right for the victory.

But the events that led up to the finish were equally unpredictable.

Two Yankee pitchers, Tommy John and Tim Stoddard, were checked for allegedly scuffing balls during the evening. The umpire crew removed three that were used by each pitcher.

Stoddard was issued a warning from the plate umpire, Dan Morrison, in the ninth, and the crew chief, Dave Phillips, said later that the scuffs on the six balls indicated to him they were doctored.

''You can't rattle a 44-year-old,'' Piniella answered. John was not. Tony LaRussa, the Oakland manager, warned that he might have John checked after Piniella had accused an A's pitcher, Curt Young, of violating the rules Monday night. And LaRussa said after the game last night, ''We all play by the same rules, don't we?''

So when John was examined before throwing a pitch in the seventh, it was no surprise.

''I thought it would be sooner,'' he said. ''I was going to buy a couple of Tony LaRussa bubblegum cards and stick them in my pocket. I would have traded them for one Sparky Anderson or one Tommy Lasorda.''

John never finished the inning. Stoddard entered the game with a runner on second base and two outs and got Jose Canseco on a ground ball to keep the game tied.

In the eighth, the Yankee right-hander nearly cost himself the game, standing quietly on the mound and failing to notice Mike Davis steal third base. But with runners at first and third, he got Tettleton on a called third strike.

As he warmed up for the ninth, however, Stoddard was checked. He grinned and threw up his arms as if asking the umpires to frisk him.

''They had nothing on me, and that's all I know,'' he said. And even LaRussa conceded that his player, Alfredo Griffin, asked to have the ball examined without intending the uproar.

Morrison, the plate umpire, said: ''They were all marked in the exact same spot. Naturally, it caught my attention.''

Stoddard later made a superb play to get a force out on Griffin at third, although his throw required a dive by Pagliarulo in foul territory for the catch, and then he handed the game to Dave Righetti in the 10th. Righetti set down the A's in order for his seventh victory. But he needed Royster. ''I knew before the inning started that I was going to hit,'' Royster said. ''There was a runner at third with no outs - it's a no-lose situation unless you do something really bad.''

He didn't, hitting an outside fastball from Honeycutt into right and giving the Yankees an 8-3 record in extra-inning games and keeping them within distance of the leaders.

''We've got to win,'' Mattingly said. ''We know we can't afford to get any farther away.'' HENDERSON GETS SINGLE

Rickey Henderson was scheduled to play left field but was scratched and moved to designated hitter before the game. He got a single in the ninth and stole his first base since July 20 but was left there. . . . Stoddard has prevented 36 of 42 inherited base runners from scoring this season, including one tonight.

Photo of Reggie Jackson waving to fans at Yankee Stadium before Yaknees-Athletics game (AP)